"Oh thank goodness. I started to think you weren't coming!" Joan exclaimed as she opened the door. Her greeting was directed as Megan, who she immediately wrapped her arms around in a hug that Megan was clearly not prepared for.
"Sorry we're late," Megan offered.
When Joan stepped back, she noticed Kate.
"Oh...well, hello. I don't believe we've met." She looked back at Megan, confused, but still playing the role of polite hostess.
"Kate Murphy," Kate answered as she shook Joan's hand.
"Joan Hunt. My, you're stunning."
Kate blushed. She had put a little extra effort into her appearance that evening, perhaps hoping it would offset her nerves. Her hair was swept back in a messy pony tail, blonde bangs playfully whisping at her cheeks. She wore an ivory pencil skirt and sleeveless, royal blue silk blouse. Megan had approved of the look so much they really almost hadn't made it to dinner.
"Kate's the Chief Medical Examiner," Megan noted.
"Oh," her tone changed suddenly. "You're not here on business, are you?" She laughed lightly through her teeth as she turned her focus back to Megan.
"No, mother, we're here to enjoy your company," Megan assured as she brushed past her and went into the house. Kate followed, smiling briefly at Joan, feeling much like the uninvited guest that she was.
"You have a lovely home, Mrs. Hunt," Kate offered. The place was lavish, filled with all kinds of expensive if not somewhat gaudy memorabilia from her travels, along with carefully selected pieces of art. There weren't many pictures, though among the few that were on the mantle in the living room, Kate spotted one of Megan and Todd at their wedding. She tried to not stare at it.
"Thank you, Kate. Call me Joan."
Megan took Kate's purse from her and dropped it with hers on one of the richly upholstered sofas. The three made their way into the dining room, where three men and one woman sat at the table, already drinking wine. They stood to greet the new guests. Megan knew Tabitha West, one of her mother's oldest friends and one of Philadelphia's biggest gossips. Joan introduced her to Kate, along with Tabitha's beau, Gary. Megan also knew Dr. Jonathan Frank, who had been her childhood pediatrician, but she did not know the younger man sitting next to him.
"Megan, this is Christopher Frank, Dr. Frank's son. Well, I guess I should say Jonathan, since Christopher is a doctor too," she laughed too sweetly. "In fact, he's just transferred here from Arkansas and is now head of cardiology at Philadelphia General. I told him you worked there for quite some time."
Christopher extended his hand to Megan. "My father told me about your accident. Sorry to hear about that."
Megan forced herself to be pleasant. "It's alright. Things have worked out in the long run."
"And this is Kate Murphy, Megan's boss at the Medical Examiner's office."
Megan cringed. She wanted to tell her mother the real reason she had brought Kate along, but was trying to wait for it to flow naturally into the conversation (as if such a moment were possible) and perhaps not in front of so many people. Still, she hated feeling like Kate was being treated as just her boss, or just her friend, or anything other than all of what she was.
They joined the group at the table and were handed their own glasses of wine, and soon salads were served. Megan hadn't really expected her mother to cook the meal or serve it herself. She couldn't remember her mother ever cooking when she was growing up. Her father had been the chef in the family, and after he was gone, their housekeeper had taken over the role. Megan would not have resented this if it weren't just one more way that she felt she had been deprived of true connection with her.
The food was excellent, of course. Joan tried to snare Megan and Kate into the gossip web she and Tabitha had been spinning for nearly thirty years. Kate was much better at humoring them than Megan ever had been. At one point, Megan almost choked on her lamb chop when Tabitha revealed that the son of another of their "close" friends might be a little bit "fruity." Her cheeks turned red as she coughed. After taking a long sip of her wine and assuring that she was alright, she felt Kate stealthily lace her fingers between her own under the table. Their softness and firm grip on her hand made her feel like she could get through anything. Still, she turned to Jonathan and Christopher, who had been trying to reel her into a medical conversation, and with which she felt much more comfortable. After dessert was served, Jonathan and Gary excused themselves to the back porch to calibrate the telescope Joan had recently brought back from Italy, and Tabitha and Joan asked Kate to make coffee with them in the kitchen, apparently under the impression that they were now the best of friends.
Megan was nearly devastated at the loss of Kate's hand, but was impressed with how much of a trooper she was. They exchanged knowing glances as Kate followed Tabitha and Joan out of the room, leaving Megan and Christopher behind. They continued their debate over malpractice insurance, which was really starting to bore Megan at this point, even though her fury over the issue compelled her to continue. Minutes later, the three other women returned with cups and saucers in hand.
"You two seem to be hitting it off quite nicely. As I had hoped," Joan delighted.
Suddenly Megan realized she was being set up. She felt foolish for not having picked up on it before. Then again, maybe she had just been in denial, still hoping her mother had wanted to spend time with her without any sort of agenda. She looked up to see Kate's face, much more distressed than she had been prior to her trip to the kitchen. Megan guessed she must have caught wind of Joan's plan while they were making coffee.
"Well, Megan's pretty easy to hit it off with," Christopher smiled.
"And she doesn't hear that from too many people, I would suspect," Joan laughed. Megan tried to tell herself that the wine had gotten to her mother, but she knew she couldn't make that excuse.
"You are really something else," Megan slowly burned.
"What? I figured the two of you had plenty in common, and apparently I was correct."
Kate reclaimed her seat and began fidgeting with her sapphire tennis bracelet. Megan's skin was practically on fire with rage. She reached out and grabbed Kate's hand and planted one of her signature kisses on the back of it. Kate stared back at her, shocked.
"You look absolutely beautiful tonight. Doesn't she look beautiful?" Megan asked the others in their company. They appeared baffled.
"Why, yes…of course…" Joan began cautiously.
Megan turned back to Kate and, very nonchalantly, kissed her softly on the lips, pulling away as Kate's breath caught, then returning to her lips once more for slightly longer. She brushed Kate's bangs behind her ear and smiled at her before turning back to Joan.
"Megan…what on earth…" Joan grumbled. Tabitha looked on in absolute horror mixed with gratification, and Christopher's mouth hung open. Megan turned her downright lethal gaze on her mother.
"You're right. Christopher and I have plenty in common, save for one very important thing. So the next time you try to set me up with someone, don't."
Megan stood from her chair and Kate followed. She could see Kate's cheeks were bright red. She knew she had to feel terribly awkward, but at the moment her anger at her mother trumped all else.
"Megan…I…I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me?" She called after her as they made their way to the front door.
"Since when have I told you anything really personal about my life, and since when have you really listened?"
"Well this was a fine way to bring it up. You didn't even give me a chance! If I had known you were a lesbian, I could have introduced you to plenty of…"
"Mother, I do not need your help! I'm with someone. She makes me happy. End of story."
"End of story only because you won't let me into your life! Rather than cause a scene, we could have simply discussed this as adults. But you insist on acting like a petulant teenager and treating me like I'm some kind of monster."
Kate had grabbed her purse and was heading for the door. Before she could leave, she turned around.
"Thank you for everything, Joan. I'm…sorry."
"Why are you sorry? You shouldn't be sorry, she should be sorry," Megan corrected her.
"Megan, let's go," Kate firmly suggested.
Megan's eyes were welled up with tears, and they left without saying another word.